


Devoted to You

by Up_sideand_down



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Blood and Injury, Concubine, Emperor - Freeform, F/M, Love at First Sight, Selkie - Freeform, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-09-22 09:46:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17057504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Up_sideand_down/pseuds/Up_sideand_down
Summary: Over and over, in any time and any place, Cloud and Sephiroth find a love in each other, one that can make their lives just as easily as it could take it away.A bunch of sefikura one-shots.Chapter 1: Emperor Sephiroth's Blade becomes his ConcubineChapter 2: A selkie worries too much





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was an early Christmas Present for Kitzuna.tsudoishi. They love their Emperoth and Cloudcubine AU's and this one just inspired me. 
> 
> They were personally inspired by this lovely song: https://youtu.be/VjZuaOATkkg

As his potential advisors left Sephiroth nodded to the dark figure in the corner. They flitted over, kneeling before Sephiroth in a deep bow. 

“Did you recognize their voices?” He asked softly. A head nodded and a mask looked up. Blue eyes bore into Sephiroth’s, waiting. 

“You know what to do,” Sephiroth said. They bowed again and stood. 

“Cloud?” Sephiroth said, “Make it quick, painless if you can. They might have been good allies in better circumstances.” There was a nod and Cloud was gone. Sephiroth sat back down and sighed. He had precious few true allies...but Cloud was the one he trusted most. 

* * *

Cloud’s first memory was watching the dark ones train...and knowing that is where she wanted to be. As she grew, she was granted many opportunities, but she knew what she wanted. Her dubious heritage made her look nearly noble. It would be easy to send her to a court, give her a house to serve and she would be a great spy. She could have gone as a concubine and been a sleeper agent. There were dozens of opportunities for a girl like her in the business of “getting things done in politics”, but all she wanted was a mask and blade of her own. Spies and sleepers were well and good and had their place, but she wanted to do things. She wasn’t one to wait and listen, she was one to act.

Her teachers knew that as soon as she was in their hands. They spoke quietly out of her hearing range, easier to mold than clay, eager to please, the best they had seen in some time. Devoted to her cause...she would earn herself a good death. 

And that was what Cloud dreamed of, earning herself a good death. Fighting her master’s foes until her last breath. Serving them so fully and well that they feared giving her away, even when they had to at least let her go. 

When Sephiroth came, there was only one person who was on their minds: Cloud. 

The moment she laid eyes on him, she knew he was an important man. He was one to get things done. She learned the story later: Crown prince who inherited the throne far to early. His uncle was supposed to only be a regent, but he liked the throne now. Sephiroth needed someone like Cloud, not just for protection, but to rid his court of those who were now against him. She simply knelt before him and swore to do her duty until her dying breath. He blinked at her, not believing it was this easy. 

He accepted. And Cloud stood as his blade: his to command, his to direct, and his to kill. 

He imparted to her that her most important duty would be to kill his uncle. She was honored to do it, honored that he planned and plotted with her until that promised day. 

And she saw his uncle had hired many of her lesser peers. She felt no guilt cutting them down. They knew their duty as well as her. They earned their deaths like she did, and it was a great honor to meet a brother or sister in battle. They fought well, giving her scars to remember them. A few even had procured poison and sometimes it still stung, a beautiful burning pain. 

For Sephiroth, she’d go through it all. He would be a great man, a great emperor. Calculating, cool, but not unjust. She was never sure if the emotion in her breast was pride for him, or something else. Whatever it was she always pushed it down. 

Emotions were not for her to feel.

* * *

Sephiroth knew he had been too quick to send out Cloud, he should have anticipated an attack from his uncle. The man was always impatient...and Sephiroth had been too today. He drew his own sword to take on the assassins on his own, but the dark shape by his side was sorely missed.

Sephiroth had taken one man down on his own, when he heard a roar behind him. He turned and saw a familiar masked form fighting his next foe, growling as they grappled. The assassin gained the upper hand for a moment and brought his own blade down on Cloud’s face, but his blow stopped. 

He had impaled himself on Cloud’s sword, straight through the heart. Cloud stumbled as they pushed him off the blade. Sephiroth caught them before they fell. The mask clattered to the floor, cleaved in two. 

Sephiroth was caught in those blue eyes again, now seeing the face that went with them. Full pouting lips, a straight elegant nose...and messy blonde locks fit for a princess. He had never imagined his Blade was something so lovely. 

Then he saw his hands were covered in blood. Cloud’s clothes were soaked with it. She coughed once, more blood coming out of her mouth. 

“Cloud,” he breathed. Cloud coughed again, lifting her sword. 

“It was an honor to serve,” she said, her voice breathy...but still firm. It was a lovely sound. She was beautiful. 

She was dying. 

The most beautiful thing Sephiroth had ever seen his life was dying in his arms. He scooped her in his arms, and carried her out.

* * *

“It’s...not like her kind to want to be saved,” his medic said carefully, “they crave death, and honorable death...much like what she has right here.”

“I said I wanted her healed,” Sephiroth said. The medic nodded and lifted the blood-stained sheet over her. He sighed heavily. 

“If she does survive...she will never be able to serve you again,” he said, “poisoned weapons...some of these are old and untreated.”

“Why would she…” Sephiroth started. 

“They wish to die in service,” the medic said, “that’s the greatest honor they can achieve...but it is treatable now.” Sephiroth nodded, feeling some relief. 

“Save who you can...but make her a priority,” he said. The medic nodded, swallowing the guilt he felt in patching her wounds.

* * *

Sephiroth sat by her often. She faded in and out of consciousness, but she never seemed lucid when she was awake. He took her hand when her eyes opened, trying to talk to her, but she always stayed quiet and was asleep in moments. He only stood up when the bandages were changed.

Once the medic stopped by and saw the future emperor putting on a moisturizing balm, only fit for the highest of royalty, on the Blade’s chapped lips and hands. He stayed quiet. He knew better than to comment.

* * *

Cloud woke finally to utter confusion. The medic pitied her in that moment. She had never intended to wake up. She had intended to die. She looked to him frantically for an explanation. He had an apology on his lips when the emperor came in. Cloud’s eyes flashed at him and she tried to stand and bow. She nearly did, not minding the ripping stitches in her torso. The medic winced. His work going to waste, new stains on those bandages.

She held her blade to him. The medic held his breath. Her contract had been complete. She offered her blade to her master. If he returned it sheathed she was free. If he handed back the blade...she earned her good death. 

And then she was coughing, more blood on the sheets. The emperor rushed to her side and ushered her into bed. He took her sword as well.

“You have to heal,” he was saying, “You must stay in bed.” Her face was just confused when she was alone. 

It wasn’t how this was supposed to be.

* * *

She limped now. Her leg just wouldn’t walk straight no matter how she urged it. She couldn’t hold her arms out in front of her. Something inside of her always hurt and she couldn’t ignore it no matter how she tried. She was broken and battered.

But the emperor didn’t seem to have noticed. He had servants bring in new clothes for her...much finer than anything she had ever worn before. The man who helped her put it on said something about it belonging to a favored concubine. They were silk. Pale colors, light pinks, yellows, blues, and greens. Then they washed her hair in perfumes and tied it with jewels and ornaments. When they finished they led her out to the emperor. He walked slow with her, had her sit by him at all times. 

She waited for him to realize what she had become, that she just wasn’t the same. For him to berate her.  

But he never did. He held her hand, asked about the pain, walked her through a garden. 

“Master,” she said, “You have completed what you wished for.”

“I’m not emperor yet,” he said, “In a few days I shall be coronated.”

“Master,” Cloud said, trying not to beg, “Have I...done what you asked me to?”

“All I asked and more,” he confirmed. 

“Then why…” she started, her words choked in her throat. He seemed concerned again. 

“Do you never cry?” he asked, he wiped under her eyes, causing the ones building there to spill, “are you in pain?”

“What I feel doesn’t matter,” Cloud said. She was below emotion...but gods this hurt not knowing why her master made her stay. 

He called a servant who gave her a tea. It made the pain dim a little.

* * *

She watched the coronation from the bedroom Sephiroth gave her. She stretched her leg until it was over. She thought she imagined him looking at her window. She pushed down the feeling it gave her in her chest and moved on to stretching her arms.

* * *

She worked every day. She worked hard, occasionally muffling her mouth to stifle her cries, but it was working. Her limp was gone. She only felt small twinges late at night. She had full movement in her arms. She could spin, she could run, she could punch.

But when she carried weight, her muscles strained and trembled. He couldn’t hold a sword still, and it made her eyes sting with unshed tears. 

She was broken.

* * *

“Master,” she said over his dinner, “I have outlived my usefulness. I am not a doll to be dressed up and displayed on your wall. I am your blade, a tool. But I am a tool that can no longer do what is needed.I cannot bear to watch this...to let you keep using a broken tool.”

She watched her master carefully. He at first listened to her words with a smile, then it faltered and died. His eyes went dark. 

“Do you want your death so badly that you are willing to part with me?” he said. She felt that strange feeling in her chest again, but pushed it away. 

“I am your blade,” she said, “I swore an oath to see your desire come true...and it has and I am no longer useful enough to be your blade. This is the truth Master. What I feel...or think I feel...it’s not important.”

“And what about what I feel?” he said. She didn’t understand. 

“Master...I have laid my life at your hand,” she said, “you took my blade…you decide how I go...and whatever you decide...I’m not afraid.”

“What if I am?” he demanded, “what if I don’t want you to go?” 

“Master?” she asked. 

“I want you to stay,” he said, taking her hand, “I want you to stay with me.” He touched her cheek again, rubbing the tears from her eyes. 

“I can’t protect you master,” she said, trying not to let panic change her voice, “I can’t do anything...I can’t-”

“You don’t have to,” he assured her, “You’ve done everything you could for me...I only want one thing more...I want you.”

“Why?” she said, “I’m nothing! I’m useless, I’m more useless than a shattered sword-” And Sephiroth’s lips were on hers, cutting off and soothing the hurt leaving her mouth. That feeling in her chest practically burst and for the first time since she was a child she felt tears running down her cheeks. 

“You’re everything,” he whispered to her. 


	2. Selkie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sephiroth is a selkie...and he has a lot on his mind

Sephiroth stood in ankle deep water a five feet from the shore. The waves died a little on the sandbar to lap at his shin as he stared out into the water. In a little over a month it would be the cold season. He would have to secret out his skins and take to the sea again. He shouldn’t have to worry about it right now. Not when the sun was shining and endless summer days stretched before him. 

He wondered if all selkies worried like he did. If they were terrified of the day they had to sneak back out to sea without getting caught. If this was the time they would get trapped on shore. 

He remembered his own mother’s prison, how her eyes turned from hopeful to a dull dead hue.

Her hands had been red when she handed him back his skin, taken after he first shed it, by his father. Her eyes still dead when she told him to never, ever let it go. He never wanted to disappoint her…to relive her fate. 

Sephiroth looked down as his foot touched something rough and sharp. He smiled when he saw the sand dollar. Almost pristine. Perfect for what she needed. He picked it up and slid it in his sack with the other shells he had been collecting. 

He turned and started back to shore, towards the person he was risking his skin for. She was writing furiously in a notebook. He didn’t bother asking what. He knew it was a string of numbers, letters and symbols only she understood. It was some message that was constantly breaking and she was constantly fixing…until he came by to distract her rather unhelpfully. 

Cloud looked up when he nudged the notebook aside. She tugged the sack towards her, digging through it with a critical eye. 

“Yes,” she said, “yes…these are perfect.” She was up on her feet and dragging him to her little beach house on the shore. All the other houses were bigger, more fashionable, he had been told. But Cloud’s little house was perfect for the two fo them, cozy and small…with plenty of little nooks and crannies for a selkie skin. 

He knelt next to her as she got out her glue gun and started finishing her little shell sculpture, a light house, carved out of the sea. She had been working on it on and off since she started coming out here. 

“Shame to let the house go to waste,” she told him, the first time she let him in. 

He knew he shouldn’t go in, that it was safer to stay away and in the sea. But he couldn’t resist. She bit her lip when she was focused, not hard, but just like she needed it to stay in place. She helped crabs and fish back to the water when they beached, sometimes shooing away seagulls. She pouted when she didn’t get her way, and punched when she thought it was unjust. Her eyes were so bright blue like the ocean, full of life…felt like home. 

He couldn’t stop himself when it was her…but it terrified him. 

He was terrified of her turning into his father…of her eyes getting cold and hungry, wanting to trap him here. It made his fingers itch, to find his skin and make sure escape was possible. 

“What’s wrong?” she asked. Her eyes were clear, full of concern…and he smiled relieved. 

“Nothing love,” he told her.

* * *

 

He rested with his head on her chest, his legs twined with hers. She snored sometimes, a soft whispy sort of noise. He loved it. Loved watching her sleep. 

“What are you thinking?” she asked. 

“You should be sleeping,” he whispered.

“Don’t wanna,” she said, “not opening her eyes. There was something I should have told you…but I kept forgetting.” He smiled. 

“What is it?” he asked. Instead she took his hand, took it off her shoulder and down to her belly. He didn’t understand. 

“I’m not really showing yet,” she said, “but as Ma would say…I’ve got one in the oven.” She still hadn’t opened her eyes. 

Sephiroth felt the breath leave his lungs. Her eyes cracked open. 

“You haven’t run screaming to the hills,” she noted. He didn’t know if he should. Part of his brain said that a baby, his baby, was just as much a cage as losing one’s skin. That he had undoubtedly been part of his mother’s. 

Most of him felt strange…like he was so happy he couldn’t feel anything else. 

“A baby?” he breathed out. 

“No a squid,” she said drily, “yes a baby.”

“My baby?” he said. 

“Of course your baby,” she said, “you really can be quite dense”

“I…I didn’t know you wanted one,” he said. 

“I didn’t,” she said, “not at first…but I got used to the idea…and decided why not. Did…you want a baby?”

Part of him reminded him of the chain that would always tie him here, skin or not, if he did have one. 

The other imagined bouncing a giggling little child, teaching them to swim…and he felt that feeling again and common sense drowned. 

“I do.” he said. 

Then the guilt nearly crushed him. 

Because if Cloud did have a baby…she would know. The child would be like him…with a skin to hide.

* * *

 

He had been debating on telling Cloud all day after she announced her pregnancy. She noticed his mood, kept trying to feed him, get him to swim, just to talk to her. Always wanted to help, even if she wast he problem. 

He stood out on the beach after Cloud drifted off that evening, telling him to stop being weird tomorrow. It didn’t suit him. 

The horizon stretched out until the sea and the sky were one and the same. It was a place all selkies wanted to go someday…where he felt the urge to go when the sun stopped staying so high in the sky and the fish moved to follow it…where his child would want to go someday too. 

He stared at it for so long he lost all track of the moon and the stars. 

He jumped when he heard the door open and slam shut. Fabric rustled as Cloud shook something out. He turned and felt his heart drop in his chest. 

Cloud was shaking out his skin…the seal fur he had thought he’d hidden in the rafters. She never looked there. Dust flew out of it as she shook and she was muttering under her breath. He approached slowly, not sure what she was going to do. 

She noticed him finally, and put one annoyed hand on her hip. 

“Do you have any idea how wrinkled and dusty this thing gets when you hide it up there?” she said, “This is just disgusting.. I have a perfectly good coat rack for you to hang it on you know.” Sephiroth couldn’t say anything. 

“Or a dresser,” she says, “you can put it with your other clothes you know, keep it nice and fresh for the fall. She held it up against with a disgusted look. 

“I’m going to have to wash this…again,” she said tsking and shaking her head. 

“You…you’ve know it was here?” he says. 

“Sephiroth please,” she said, “you are an absolute dense fool sometimes. I’ve known since the second summer we stayed together. Found it under the floorboards…covered in whatever grime is there. I washed it and folded it nicely for you…not that you ever thanked me.”

“You knew?!” he repeated. 

“It’s not like it’s hard to put together Seph,” Cloud said, “you disappear every fall…and your skin too. Then reappear with the seal migration. Ma told me enough stories about things like you…and taught me well enough to not mess with your things.” 

“But…why?” he said, “why not…keep me here?” he said. She set down his skin and joined him on the beach. She held his face in her hands. 

“Because I love you,” she said, “love is not a prison it doesn’t lock you in a house by the sea, love should set you free. I love you…and I trust you that if you love me too…you’d keep coming back. And you did…and you keep staying longer and longer…so you must really like me…and you want to have a baby with me…that means something Sephiroth.”

His knees almost buckled in relief as she said those words.

“Is this what you were freaking out about?” she said.

“Yes,” he said, “how to tell you, that I am a selkie and so is our baby.”

“Well I know,” she said, “so come inside…and you’re washing your skin this time.” He took it as he passed the railing. There was no dread crossing the threshold this time. 

He wasn’t in a prison here…he was just home. 


End file.
